M&A Roundup: Pepkor exits Zimbabwe and Anglo American sells Australian business stake

CFO South Africa 29 November 2019

Also: Steinhoff names Kapela Holdings as B-BBEE partner and Growthpoint to take over Capital & Regional.

Brait launched an overhaul of its operations as leading shareholder Christo Wiese seeks to salvage his investment after seeing his other retail assets plunge in value.

The investment company outlined a refinancing worth almost twice as much as its R7.1 billion market value and said the plan could result in a sale of assets, which also include Virgin Active gyms, within three to five years.

Pepkor Holdings said on Monday it will exit Zimbabwe after an economic crisis in the country hurt its performance.

The company, whose brands include Pep Stores, Ackermans and Shoe City, has closed the remaining 20 stores in Zimbabwe, bringing to an end its 20-year presence in that country.

Steinhoff on Wednesday named Kapela Holdings as its Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) partner in its deal to sell its shareholding in car dealer network Unitrans.

On Wednesday it said that Kapela had executed a share purchase agreement to buy the remaining 25.1 percent interest in Unitrans.

Anglo American said on Wednesday it had sold its minority stake in the Grosvenor coking coal mine in Australia for about $141 million (about R2.1 billion) to a consortium of Japanese companies.

The diversified miner, which has consistently been offloading coal operations since 2014, said its 12 percent interest has been acquired by a group that includes Nippon Steel Corp, Mitsui & Co, Nippon Steel Trading Corp, Shinsho Corp, and JFE Mineral Co.

UK-focused retail landlord Intu Properties has sold a Northern Ireland retail park to property investment trust New River for £40 million.

The sale of Sprucefield Retail Park in Lisburn brings Intu’s year-to-date disposals total to £268 million, as the shopping centre operator aims to fix its balance sheet.

Growthpoint Properties has received approval from Capital & Regional shareholders to a R2.9 billion takeover deal of the latter company, which is headquartered in the UK.

Hugh Scott-Barrett (pictured), the chairman of Capital & Regional, said in a statement:

“It is very pleasing to see such strong shareholder support for the proposed transaction, endorsing the board’s view that this will provide a transformational catalyst for the future growth of Capital & Regional.”

Germany-focused business park owner Sirius Real Estate is planning further acquisitions during the second half of its year, seeking to take advantage of low financing costs and strong demand from tenants.

The company owns or manages 60 business parks around Germany and its portfolio had a book value of €1.06 billion (R17 billion) at the end of its six months to end-September. This is an about 6 percent decline in the book value the prior half-year.

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